The Cure by Teyla Branton Read Free Book Online Page B

it’s all true, isn’t it?” The last words were garbled by sobs.
    I looked away. So much emotion blasting the airwaves was an assault on my senses.
    Jace caught my eyes and grinned. “You’re bleeding.”
    “Was.” My stomach felt fine now. In another hour, I wouldn’t even have a scar. I looked down at Ava, who was sitting again in her chair, her body emanating coiled energy. “So, are we going to Mexico?” With Cort already there, Chris would have to fly the rest of us, and while worrying about Jace was hard enough, having my mortal brother in the midst of yet another crisis was not good for my peace of mind. I still blamed myself for his wife’s death.
    Ava’s brow creased. “It depends on what Dimitri and Cort find there.” She glanced at Stella. “There’s no chatter about it anywhere, so I really can’t plan anything right now. The lab’s not exactly a secret, so it might be an Emporium ruse to flush us out. They don’t like that we came out on top during our last struggle. I do wish Ritter had been here to go with them just in case.”
    “You could have sent me,” Jace said. “Cort says I’m probably faster than Ritter now.”
    Somehow I doubted it, though I admired my brother’s enthusiasm and I couldn’t wait to see him spar with Ritter. Someone needed to remind him that being Unbounded didn’t mean complete immortality—and that he still had a long way to go in training.
    I waited for Ava to tell Jace he’d have been in the way, but her gravestone eyes observed him without expression. “You may still have your chance. Meanwhile, we have another problem to take care of. Two, actually.”
    “The Hunters, I suppose.” I frowned. “There’s no way to erase their knowledge of Mari altogether. She’s already in their database. But we might be able to erase the fact that she actually Changed.”
    Ava jotted something on a paper in front of her. “I hope so, though that’s not what I’m referring to. However, I did talk to Ritter after you left the park, and I sent George with the trailer. We’ll bring the Hunters here to study the situation. If we can erase Mari’s Change, I’ll need your help.”
    I nodded. Delving inside people was exhausting, and though taking the Hunters’ memories hadn’t been too difficult, my run-in with the armed bum had left me depleted. Concentrating now, I increased my body’s rate of absorption from the air. More nutrients should help me recover.
    “The real concern with what happened tonight,” Ava continued, “is how many other descendant lines might be compromised. Is this a one-time thing, or do the Hunters have a way to track our relatives who carry the Unbounded gene?”
    My stomach tensed. If they did, it could devastate the entire Renegade movement unless we all acted fast. New Unbounded were the only way we’d survive the ongoing battle. “We’ll have to contact the other groups.”
    “Stella already sent out a message,” Ava said with a sigh. “But more pressing than all this is the problem of Cort’s brother. He contacted us on our emergency line less than an hour ago, right before I called you. He wants to meet with Cort tonight. In person. Says it’s urgent.”
    I blinked. “Keene? That brother?” Cort Bagley’s Unbounded father was a member of the Emporium Triad, and Cort had many siblings, both mortal and Unbounded. Cort had defected years ago from the Emporium to Ava’s group of Renegades, but his half brother Keene had remained embroiled in his father’s cause, a mortal in the midst of Emporium Unbounded who considered themselves superior—almost gods—compared to the lowly mortals. Two months ago Keene had captured and taken me to the Emporium, but he’d eventually helped me escape. My life wasn’t the only one he’d saved, and I owed him. “I thought Cort had lost all contact with Keene.”
    Stella, her arm still around Mari, turned her head in our direction. “He had for a while, but there’s a chat group